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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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When I began reviewing the Simaudio 820S in late 2016, I was not prepared for just how many people already had one, and how many would henceforth obtain one. Or two. Since a single 820S can only power two components, one guy needed two 820Ses, for his Simaudio Evolution series phonostage, CD player, DAC, and preamp.
The other contingent who reached out to me about the 820S was anyone who had Simaudio's non-Evolution series gear. Each wanted to know what to expect, should he go up to the Evolution series. In general, my answer was that the Evolution series "tells a more complete and deep musical story." Moreover, adding an 820S was like having a more reliable narrator.
So let's reveal more of how my life radically changed (and set the tone for future developments), during the Fall 1987 semester. As high school juniors, my guy friends, never plentiful in number, found academics harder, and pressure to get into good colleges intensifying. They stopped coming out to play sports, our favorite activity. The remaining guys panicked. At the outdoor volleyball courts (above, with San Francisco State in the background) I then met and befriended a horde of freshmen nerd girls.
Most of my guy friends were disappointed. These nerd girls typically were not pretty, fashionable, powerful, or athletic. Some were of the "ice maiden" variety, who did not talk much. A couple threw out strings of fancy and complex words, and you did not know what to believe, what was the truth.
Little Timmy was yet another one of my physically small guy friends, who looked like Milhouse from The Simpsons. When he saw all of these nerd girls join us, he pumped his fist. He felt liberated. His whole life, opponents targeted him, picked on him, bullied him, threw all of the vicious short-people jokes at him.
But now that we had all these small nerd girls, we finally had the numbers to play, for example, softball and football. That also freed Little Timmy to (finally) try other positions. Our guys who stopped coming out were dumb players; they did not have the discipline or mental acuity, to run and execute plays. Little Timmy observed that our girls were academically smart. So he perked up, at the thought of the girls having the ability to run plays. When you get this crafty in team sports, you become a better audiophile.
With opponents bearing down on our nerd girls, they forgot about Little Timmy. He no longer had to endure the taunts, put-downs, and trash talking. Still, withstanding that trash talk made you immune to whatever audiophiles threw your way.
A stoked Little Timmy also pumped his fist, when some of these nerd girls said they'd come out to our school's huge monthly dances. That got us talking about music, where you try to find common ground and shared likes. Typically at these dances, you were afraid to venture out, onto the dance floor. Accordingly, we'd just hang out along walls, with 4 or 5 of these nerd girls. Being friends, that was perfectly fine and comfortable. And this, not radio or MTV, was where we discovered new material from synthpop duo, Erasure. The modern rock DJs would play Erasure, and we loved "Hideaway," a song about coming out. We were all disappointed, that "Hideaway" was never released as a single, and no video was ever filmed for it. Oh well, that just makes it a favorite among the pop music wing of audiophiles.
Nobody had any dance moves or ability, so it was tremendous fun, to stand in a circle, and "dance" to "Hideaway." And as Little Timmy would discover during the 1 or 2 slow songs played that night, the first to place her hand on your hip, waist, or lower back was one of the nerd girls.
Let's say that a Simaudio Evolution system is like this photo, which makes the girl appear to be good at hula hoop. Adding an 820S tells a more complete story. By better tracking the way notes begin and end, and go from one to the next, the 820S tells the truth: in real life, the stiff-hipped girl was not good at hula hoop. Shortly after the picture was taken, the hula hoop fell to the floor.
An 820S allows a Simaudio Evolution system to do a better job at maintaining the music's body, stability, and substance. It's like a narrator explaining that, because the living room in this house in San Francisco's Sunset District did not get any sunlight after noon, it was cold. That explains why everyone, despite being indoors, is in long sleeves.
Ah, this is what our old S.F. homes were like, in the late-80s and early-90s. You had the analog cable TV coax. You had the old and getting dirty carpet. You had the original, though 3-hole, AC outlets.
Going to a modern after-market AC outlet will up the audio system's resolution. But be careful. The 820S itself is neutral/self-effacing. It will tell you, for better or for worse, what each AC outlet does to/for the sound. For example, an Oyaide SWO-DX will squash any semblance of soundstage depth, and soften the drums. So when you play Erasure's "Hideaway," it's like Little Timmy getting run over by a large and stocky running back. Photographed here is an SWO-XXX, which (a) makes the images smaller and tighter, (b) allows for good detail retrieval, (c) is tonally extended and even across the spectrum, but (d) isn't as open and liquid as the R-0 and R-1. Nevertheless, the resolution is like the narrator explaining that, in the photo two above, the girl incurred marks, bruises, and scars, from playing basketball, football, and softball. Also note that this 820S unit uses the flat-bottom cones, which provide little to no grip onto the shelf.
Yup, the AC outlets in your powerline conditioner matter. This Power Wing sports Oyaide SWO-XXX outlets. A different Power Wing sports R-0 outlets. For the Simaudio 820S, it is like going from a really good circumaural headphone, to being at the open-air courtyard with your nerd girl friends.
If you do get a Simaudio 820S, at a minimum, you will use the 4-pin XLR "analog DC power" connection. As we've said time and again, find someone with a cable burn-in device. Acquire the adapters, needed to treat 4-pin XLR cables. Simaudio's stock OEM cable is excellent; a model of balanced sonics. However, the Custom Cans cable allows for bigger imaging, and for the music's rhythms to churn out more strongly. The latter is like having good cleats, which enable your feet to dig into the batter's box more securely.
The "fake KCAG" is a silver-conductored cable made in China. It is a thinner and lighter-sounding product, like us adults reverting to our high school bodies. Or, it's like drinking sparkling water, instead of a more sugary soda, such as Mountain Dew or Coke.
You and Little Timmy were not forced to go after the nerd girls. But they did not out-of-hand reject or say NO to you. When you first acquire a Simaudio 820S, it is like running smart but simple offensive plays in basketball and football. But as you optimize the 820S [as well as the companion Evolution component(s)], it's like watching those nerd girls do well at good colleges, obtain good jobs, and become the mother of your children.
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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Topic - Simaudio 820S, Part 21 - Luminator 16:12:12 09/11/20 (0)
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